Lesson 2

In SIRS Discoverer I searched for Apollo Ohno and got no hits. Then I tried Ohno, and got 19 hits, 18 of which were about the speedskater (who spells his first name with only one "l.") The summaries of each article were helpful, and the full text versions came up quickly. There were seven photographs, but only a few were of Ohno. All of the hits were at a moderate reading level, except for the one that was not about Apolo Ohno, which was ranked at a challenging level.

For younger students, I think this much information would be overwhelming. Report writers in grades 3-5 would spend all their time trying to figure out which article to use. Even middle-schoolers would be hard-pressed to sort through this much reading. As a librarian, I'll need to focus more on helping kids decide quickly what to toss out and what to save when researching online.

In the Database feature Country Facts, I chose Armenia, which I wasn't certain was still a country. It is -- again. I was very excited about the graphic organizers at three levels, and will probably use them in future lessons. One disappointment was that they print in extremely small scale, and faintly. I'll have to retype them to get something that can be reproduced. Still, they will be helpful to students and teachers alike. There was a good cross-section of information on Armenia, legibly arranged, and easier to read that the small print in an almanac. The "pictures" consisted of the aforementioned graphic organizers, a map, and the Armenian flag; no actual pictures of scenes in Armenia, which would be helpful to students.

As a map-lover, the huge range of maps available in Maps of the World thrilled me! I looked at Judaism 1492-1745 and found a clear depiction of the spread of Judaism across four continents. The map was quite large, and I'm not sure it would print well, but it could easily be projected on a screen for classroom discussion. Next I went to Chaco Canyon. Here, the color demarcation was too subtle and some words needed to be translated to give students a fighting chance to understand the map. In general, there is a motherlode of information in Maps of the World to support social studies and language arts standards.

I also explored Educational Resources in the Database Features section. Some items here bordered on advertisements for SIRS, but were useful nonetheless. For example, "SIRS v. Google" made a good case for the effectiveness of searching a controlled database, but it never recognized the any positive aspects of Google, and there are many. It was so one-sided that it put me off. However, the next item I checked out, "Checklist for Fair Use," I immediately printed off and will be using regularly. I plan to return to Educator's Resources (I actually put it in my Favorites) to explore the various tutorials. I feel there are lots of things for me to learn here -- far more than I can absorb in one setting.

In SIRS Issues Reseacher, I selected European Union as my leading issue. The pro/con question was "Is the EU deomcratic?" Two articles were linked on each side of the debate. Both seemed to be very high reading level to me. They might be helpful to high school juniors and seniors, but they'd be overwhelming for middle-schoolers. I felt that way about much of SIRS Issues Researcher. The Topic Overview and Terms to Know sections were written at a level I believe would be accessible to average high school students.

I am not entirely comfortable with students getting so much help to word topic questions. I fear this approach could have the unintended effect of reducing the ways in which students approach subjects. This site makes it possible for students to distill report-writing to a series of cut-and-paste actions, some quick rewriting to put things in their own words, and a final trip through the printer. When students research and wrestle to identify their own topics -- even if the topics are strange or immature -- it reflects the child's own interest in the topic. As a librarian, I would ask teachers first about whether they wanted students using SIRS Issue Researcher.

In Curriculum Pathfinders, I tried to choose 19th Century American Literature, but I'm not sure that's what I got. There were so many articles that their relevance to the topic was impossible to establish. Next I tried entering "Edgar Allan Poe" in the search window, but I still got articles of unclear relevance. Then I noticed an option for "Matching Subject" under "Narrow Your Results" and I chose that. Voila! I had a list of very usable articles for an essay on Poe. The articles all loaded quickly; photographs were clear; one link to a website for the Poe Museum consistently went nowhere, but everything else worked well.

Along the way, I explored the iThink tutor and was very impressed with it. I'm not sure how many students would have the patience to use, it, but it was like having a personal tutor sitting beside you. I think students would respond positively to avatar. For homeschool students, and for struggling writers, this feature could be a godsend.